Return on Reputation

Justin Obey
  • 5.0 (2)
  • Marketing
  • Updated Weekly

I'm Justin Obey, and this is Return on Reputation. Here's what I've learned building companies and helping founders scale: The game has changed. You don't need a bigger ad budget - you need a better media strategy. This show is about how founders are building authority and leverage in 2026: Podcasting that generates real clients, not just downloads AI tools that actually save you time instead of creating busy work Social media that builds relationships, not just follower counts Founder-led branding that positions you as the obvious choice I've built a 7-figure company, I run marketing for multiple 7 and 8-figure brands, and now I help B2B founders build the media engines that let them stop chasing and start attracting. If you're ready to play a different game, let's go.

  1. 3d ago ·  Video

    Answer Engine Optimization (AEO): How to Boost Your AI Search Visibility | Ep. 21

    Subscribe to the weekly Authority Brief: https://get.obeycreative.com/newsletter  The search landscape is undergoing a massive shift. While most businesses still focus on traditional Google rankings, your next customer is likely asking ChatGPT, Gemini, or Claude who to trust. This new era of AI search demands a proactive approach to AI-driven reputation marketing to ensure your business is the one being recommended. In this episode of Return on Reputation, I’m joined by Tim Harvey, founder of FlyDragon. We dive into the world of Answer Engine Optimization (AEO) and how businesses can strengthen their "digital entity" to secure AI recommendations. If you aren't visible to AI, you're invisible to the future of discovery. Tim spent seven years helping top-producing real estate agents win online through websites, Google, PPC, Google Business Profile, Facebook Ads, and reviews. Then he noticed something that changed the whole playbook. AI tools were no longer just sending people back to Google. They were recommending actual names. We talk about what happens when ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, Perplexity, and Google AI Overviews become part of how people choose a real estate agent, advisor, contractor, agency, or software company. Tim explains why AI should be treated as a marketing channel now, not later, and why FlyDragon’s research found that 91% of real estate agents are invisible to AI Search. We also get into your “digital entity,” the public footprint AI uses to understand who you are, what you do, who you help, and whether you’re credible. Your website matters. But so do reviews, listicles, directories, press releases, podcasts, Reddit threads, YouTube, LinkedIn, and third-party mentions. Because AI looks for corroboration. It wants to see if the story you tell about yourself shows up anywhere else. And if it doesn’t, there’s a good chance it recommends someone else. In this episode, we cover: Why AI Search is becoming a real marketing channel How ChatGPT is changing customer research What it means to be invisible to AI Search Why 91% of real estate agents are not showing up in AI answers How AI decides which businesses to trust Why reviews, listicles, press releases, and Reddit matter How to audit your AI presence like a customer would Why reputation is becoming machine-readable Keywords: Tim Harvey, FlyDragon, Return on Reputation, AI Search, AI visibility, Answer Engine Optimization, AEO, GEO, AI SEO, ChatGPT recommendations, Google AI Overviews, real estate marketing, digital reputation, reputation marketing, SEO, local SEO, AI marketing, founder visibility, listicles, reviews, press releases, digital entity, AI referrals TIMESTAMPS: 00:00 Introductions 00:31 From Curator to FlyDragon 02:25 AI Visibility Explained 04:58 Why People Trust AI 10:05 The 91 Percent Invisible Stat 12:34 AI Search Traffic and Overviews 16:21 Digital Entity and Data Sources 18:44 Auditing Your AI Presence 23:27 How AI Chooses Who to Trust 25:35 Listicles and Omnipresence 26:52 Diversify Reviews Everywhere 27:57 Top AI Visibility Factors 28:47 Reverse Engineer Citations 30:08 Pages vs Blogs Strategy 31:58 Audit Profiles Like SEO 33:38 Zero Click Leads Explained 35:33 Websites For AI Eyeballs 38:52 Press Releases Pay To Play 41:12 Flexible Playbook Reddit Seeding 43:34 Ethics And Gaming The System 45:06 Rapid Fire And Wrap Up

    51 min

  2. Jul 2 ·  Video

    Why Trusted Brands Always Win the Downturn | Chris Farris, Boost Promotions | Ep. 20

    Most founders think branded merch is a waste of money. Chris Farris has spent 20-plus years proving the opposite. In this episode of Return on Reputation, host Justin Obey and Chris Farris, founder of Boost Promotions, break down how branded merchandise becomes physical proof of a company's reputation, why trusted brands rise while commodities get cut in a downturn, and how a $100 gift can open the door to a million-dollar deal.   This one is for founders who already believe personal brand and reputation are real assets, and want to know where physical brand experience fits alongside content and personal branding.   What you'll learn:   Why "free stuff" fails and what gives merch intention instead The real size of the branded merchandise industry and why nobody talks about it How trusted brands like Coca-Cola and Procter and Gamble win when the economy turns The gift-based demand gen math: spending $100 to close a million-dollar deal Why the unboxing "Christmas morning" moment is what people actually remember How merch acts as physical authority on top of the awareness your content builds Where founders waste the most money on branded merch, and how to stop   Chapters:  00:00 Intro and Chris's path from the Mets to Boost Promotions  02:06 Is branded merch a waste of money?  04:07 How big the merch industry really is  06:06 Giving merch intention (not car-wash rags) 08:45 Beyond acquisition: recruiting, retention, impulse  10:50 What brand means today  12:56 Where companies waste money  16:14 Quality vs. brand name, staying on trend 19:45 Should founders only wear their own merch?  21:38 The process: swag closets, pop-up shops, custom products  27:00 Gift giving and demand gen: $100 to a $1M deal  30:02 The unboxing experience that gets remembered  31:25 Measuring brand and surviving the downturn  34:47 Trust is everything  36:13 Can merch build authority? Physical authority  37:36 Rapid fire  41:46 Where to find Chris and Boost Promotions

    47 min

  3. Jun 26 ·  Video

    Why Your LinkedIn Profile Is the New Landing Page | Michael Kurson, FirstTouch | Ep. 19

    Can you build a B2B pipeline on LinkedIn with no ad spend, no cold calls, and no cold emails? Michael Kurson did exactly that, and he tracked every step.   Michael is the co-founder of FirstTouch, a platform that turns LinkedIn into a measurable go-to-market channel by attributing every comment, connection, and DM back to HubSpot. Before tech he sold something harder to move: hard seltzer, one three-hour liquor-store tasting at a time. He joins Justin Obey on Return on Reputation to explain why trust is the real product now, why the people are the brand, and how to earn attention on social before a buyer ever needs you.   This conversation is for founders, sales leaders, and marketers who believe what we believe: people buy from people they know, like, and trust, and the companies that lean into the personal brands of their founders and their team will outperform the ones hiding behind a logo.   What you'll learn:   Why "digital eye contact" in the comments beats cold outreach every time The exact commenting routine that tripled his connection-accept rate (from ~20% to 60%+) Why your profile is the new landing page, and the website is not where buyers live anymore How AI search (AEO) is changing discovery, and the best question to ask in a first call Why AI-generated comments quietly damage your reputation How the people, not the logo, became the brand (Lovable, Clay, Whisperflow)   Questions answered in this episode:   How do you build trust on LinkedIn without being salesy? What is the highest-ROI activity on LinkedIn for a busy founder? Is cold calling and cold email dead in 2026? How do you make LinkedIn drive measurable pipeline? What does reputation actually mean for a B2B company today?   Chapters  0:00 Cold open  0:25 From hard seltzer to software: what selling drinks taught him about trust  4:30 The trust gap in the age of AI  7:45 Micro-conversations and "digital eye contact" in the comments  11:30 Talk less, win more: the 49% talk-rate rule  14:00 Why almost nobody comments (and why that's the opening)  16:00 What FirstTouch does: making LinkedIn measurable  20:30 The anatomy of a comment that works  25:00 Your profile is the new landing page  27:30 Social as the new battleground, and AEO  33:30 Human-in-the-loop vs automation  38:00 67% attribution: when the light bulb goes on  42:30 The people are the brand (Lovable, Clay, Whisperflow)  46:45 If a busy founder had 8 minutes a day  48:45 "LinkedIn is cringe" and the perfect-post trap  49:40 If you're not on social, you disappear  51:25 Rapid fire  53:55 What reputation means

    52 min

  4. Jun 19 ·  Video

    Why Human Authenticity Is the New Competitive Advantage | Ep. 18 with Jon Dick

    📩 Subscribe to our newsletter the Authority Brief: https://get.obeycreative.com/newsletter 🎙️ Free Podcast Planner GPT: https://get.obeycreative.com/podcastplanner  Most companies are trying to figure out what AI is going to change. Jon Dick thinks the better question is what AI won’t change. In this episode of Return on Reputation, Justin Obey talks with Jon Dick,  Chief Customer Officer at HubSpot about inbound marketing, AI, personal brand, Answer Engine Optimization, and why human authenticity may become one of the strongest advantages a company can build. Jon has spent years inside HubSpot, a company that helped define inbound marketing and the idea of giving value before asking for anything back. Free content. Free tools. Useful education. The kind of work that compounds slowly, then suddenly looks obvious. But AI is changing the rules. Content is easier to make now. Code is easier to ship. Answers are easier to generate. Which sounds great, until every company starts sounding the same. Jon argues that the brands that break through will be the ones with a real point of view. Not louder content. Not more content. Better thinking. Clear opinions. Real people behind the message. We talk about why being opinionated matters, why “AI for AI’s sake” usually misses the point, and how companies can use AI to speed up human ideas without losing the voice that made those ideas worth sharing in the first place. Jon also explains how HubSpot is thinking about agentic customer platforms, what AEO means for the future of search, and why the old marketing funnel feels less useful than it used to. The buyer journey is messier now. More indirect. Harder to track. Maybe that’s uncomfortable for marketers who want clean attribution. But it’s also closer to how people actually buy. We also get into thought leadership, LinkedIn, community, customer trust, and one very old-school tactic that may be working better than ever: picking up the phone. In this episode we cover: Why human authenticity matters more in the AI era How AI is changing inbound marketing and go-to-market strategy Why brands need stronger opinions to stand out The difference between AI output and real business outcomes What “add value before you extract value” means at HubSpot How Jon thinks about AI agents and customer context Why Answer Engine Optimization matters for modern search Why the traditional funnel no longer explains how people buy How leaders can build trust through public, honest engagement Why generic AI content makes real human voice more valuable How AI can help with content without replacing the person behind it Why attribution is getting harder, and why that might be okay What marketers should understand about community and social proof Why picking up the phone still works Keywords: Jon Dick, HubSpot, Return on Reputation, AI marketing, inbound marketing, human authenticity, Answer Engine Optimization, AEO, go-to-market strategy, thought leadership, personal brand, AI agents, customer platform, B2B marketing, brand reputation, content strategy, LinkedIn marketing, reputation marketing

    40 min

  5. Jun 12 ·  Video

    How to Turn a Founder’s Vision Into a Message That Sells | Shannon Curran | Ep. 17

    📩 Subscribe to our newsletter the Authority Brief: https://get.obeycreative.com/newsletter 🎙️ Free Podcast Planner GPT: https://get.obeycreative.com/podcastplanner    Most early-stage founders think they have a marketing problem. But sometimes the real problem is simpler: the founder can sell the vision in a conversation, but the company cannot explain it clearly anywhere else. In this episode of Return on Reputation, my guest is Shannon Curran, founder of SSC Consulting, a fractional CMO and go-to-market advisor helping early-stage B2B SaaS companies turn founder insight into clear positioning, stronger messaging, and a more repeatable path to growth. Shannon has spent her career in marketing, tech, venture capital, and executive advisory roles. After working as a VP of Marketing and advising portfolio companies from the VC side, she started SSC Consulting in 2024 after returning from maternity leave, looking at her five-month-old son, and realizing it might be time to bet on herself. We talk about what happens when a founder has the charisma, conviction, and clarity to close deals, but that same energy gets trapped in one-on-one calls, investor meetings, or internal conversations. Shannon breaks down how she helps founders extract their point of view, sharpen their positioning, align their teams, and build a go-to-market message that actually helps the company sell, grow, and stand out. We also talk about what it’s really like to start a consulting business, how founder brand is different from actual go-to-market strategy, and why so many B2B startups struggle to make their message more specific. In this episode we cover: Why founder charisma often does not translate into clear company messaging How to turn a founder’s point of view into a repeatable go-to-market strategy Why early-stage B2B SaaS companies struggle with positioning The difference between founder brand and just posting on LinkedIn How Shannon interviews founders, teams, investors, and customers to build better messaging Why recently onboarded customers are often the best source of positioning insight How scarcity mindset leads founders to say yes to the wrong customers Why narrowing your message can actually help you grow faster What B2B buyers are really looking for in 2026 How personal brand, LinkedIn, and podcasting support reputation and inbound growth Keywords: founder messaging, B2B SaaS marketing, go-to-market strategy, founder brand, positioning strategy, fractional CMO, B2B marketing, LinkedIn personal brand, early-stage SaaS, Return on Reputation podcast

    58 min

  6. Jun 9 ·  Video

    What Investors Actually Look For Before They Ever Take Your Pitch with David Brown | Ep 16

    📩 Subscribe to our newsletter the Authority Brief: https://get.obeycreative.com/newsletter 🎙️ Free Podcast Planner GPT: https://get.obeycreative.com/podcastplanner    David Brown has seen thousands of pitches. He funds very few of them. Not because the ideas are bad. Because the founders haven't done the work of being known, trusted, or differentiated before they walk into the room. David is the founder of Impellent Ventures, a pre-seed and seed stage fund backing founders in underserved ecosystems across upstate New York and the Rust Belt. Before that, he built TUGG, Technology Underwriting Greater Good, into one of Boston's most influential startup communities, putting 14,000 people a year through events and millions of dollars into early-stage companies. He's spent his career betting on founders before anyone else does. And he has a clear point of view on what separates those who make it from those who don't. In this episode of Return on Reputation, we cover: — Why 90% of pitches get ignored and what actually gets an investor's attention  — The three things David looks for in a founder above everything else  — Why the VC relationship lasts longer than most American marriages  — What personal brand gets wrong and what it looks like when it's done right  — How to get warm introductions in a world where cold outreach is dying  — The one habit David says most founders and investors forget about  — What reputation really means after twenty years of betting on people This one is for the founders who are building something real and wondering why the right people haven't found them yet. Chapters:  00:00 Introduction 02:10 TUGG and the Boston startup era 06:35 Why David moved back to Rochester and started Impellent 11:05 The Impellent thesis: supercharging startups in underserved markets 17:13 What investors actually evaluate in a founder 23:00 The VC relationship is longer than a marriage 25:19 Personal brand vs. vanity brand — where founders get it wrong 29:00 AI in the pitch process and portfolio companies 40:35 How founders should build authority to get in front of investors 43:30 The biggest mistake founders make 45:15 Rapid fire 48:05 What reputation means today Subscribe to Return on Reputation on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, and Spotify. Ready to close your Authority Gap? Visit OBEYCreative.com

    50 min

  7. May 28 ·  Video

    Why Clear Positioning Is the #1 Driver of B2B Business Growth | Anthony Pierri | Ep. 15

    📩 Join the Friday Briefing (free newsletter): https://get.obeycreative.com/newsletter 🎙️ Free Podcast Planner GPT: https://get.obeycreative.com/podcastplanner  Every B2B company says they have a positioning strategy. Almost none of them can explain what they actually do in one sentence. Anthony Pierri has seen this up close, hundreds of times. As co-founder of Fletch PMM, he's spent the last three years sitting with founders and leadership teams, staring at homepages that say everything and mean nothing. Not the pitch deck. Not the brand guidelines. The actual words a stranger reads when they land on your site and decide in seconds whether you're worth their time. What he's found is both simple and uncomfortable: most B2B companies aren't struggling because of their product. They're struggling because nobody, including their own team, can agree on who they're really for. In this episode of Return on Reputation, I had the chance to talk with Anthony Pierri to dig into why clear positioning is the #1 driver of B2B growth and why the homepage is the most underrated alignment tool in any company's arsenal. What you'll learn in this episode: Why your homepage isn't a marketing asset. It's a forcing function for internal alignment The difference between firmographic ICPs and Jobs-to-be-Done segmentation, and why one of them actually works The real reason B2B companies end up with 20 use cases and no clear message The trucking software company that was weeks away from dying until one positioning bet changed everything Why sharing everything you know publicly doesn't cost you clients. It brings them in The two content principles Anthony uses to build authority on LinkedIn: the spiky opinion and the super specific how Why the champion in a B2B deal is almost never who you think it is What Stripe, Calendly, and Vanta can teach any startup about winning a market If you're a B2B founder who's invisible outside your inner circle, great at what you do but unknown everywhere else, this episode is your roadmap. Follow Return on Reputation on YouTube, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts so you don't miss an episode.   TIMESTAMPS: 00:00 Meet Anthony Pierri of Fletch PMM 00:50 From Pastor to Product Marketer 03:04 What a Failed Sales Role Taught Him 04:59 How His First LinkedIn Post Went Viral 08:18 Your Homepage Is a Positioning Tool, Not a Marketing Asset 10:33 The Trucking Company That Almost Died 12:37 Why Niching Down Is Not About Firmographics 16:18 The Risk of Public Teardowns 18:11 Why B2B Websites Get Vague 23:04 How to Prioritize Your Homepage 25:49 Why Changing Market Perception Takes Time 27:09 Building a 90% Inbound Business With No Outbound 27:18 How LinkedIn Became His #1 Inbound Channel 29:25 Why Sharing Everything Publicly Wins More Clients 31:27 Will AI Kill the Case for Public Content 34:21 Why the Champion Is Never the C-Suite 38:23 The Authority Gap Every B2B Founder Has 44:37 How to Build Organic Distribution as a Founder 47:36 The Two Content Principles Behind Every B2B Thought Leader 49:49 Rapid Fire and Wrap

    54 min

  8. May 21 ·  Video

    Why Waiting to Build Your Personal Brand Is Costing You Millions | Alexandra Crabb | Ep. 14

    📩 Join the Friday Briefing (free newsletter): https://get.obeycreative.com/newsletter 🎙️ Free Podcast Planner GPT: https://get.obeycreative.com/podcastplanner  Alexandra Crabb just became the owner of a 28-year-old PR agency.   She didn't start it. She grew it from the inside over 14 years — joined as VP when the team was five people, helped build it to ten, and six weeks ago acquired Castor Communications from its founder, Kimberly Lancaster. Now she's thinking about something most founders never stop to consider: legacy. What does she want to leave behind? And how does she protect the reputation that was already there when she walked in?   That question runs through everything in this episode.   Alex has spent her entire career making founders visible — getting them in front of the right journalists, the right audiences, the right rooms. And she has a clear, honest take on where founders waste money, where they miss the window, and why the ones who wait until they "need" PR are already behind.   In this episode of Return on Reputation, we cover: — What PR actually does for a B2B founder  — and what it absolutely cannot do  — Why founders who wait to build their personal brand make their own lives harder  — The real cost of staying invisible while someone louder takes your market  — How AI is reshaping discoverability and why earned media now carries more weight than ever   — The owned, earned, and paid flywheel and how to think about the right ratios  — Why your whole team needs to be visible, not just the founder  — What "building in public" actually looks like when you're still figuring it out  — The AEO vs. GEO debate and why the fundamentals still win This one is for the founder who's heads down building  and hasn't looked up to ask who knows they exist yet.   Chapters:  00:00 Introduction  00:44 Alex acquires Castor Communications — the intrapreneurship story  04:45 The weight of ownership — legacy, pressure, and not screwing it up  05:35 AI and the future of discoverability — how Castor is adapting  11:10 The Wild West of social media and why LinkedIn still wins for B2B  13:45 What PR actually does for a B2B founder — and what founders get wrong  16:00 It's not magic: why PR doesn't work as an on/off switch  18:05 When a startup is NOT ready for PR  20:25 Building your personal brand before you need it — and what waiting costs  25:10 The loudest person in the room problem  27:00 Media training, story development, and the living pitch book  33:00 AEO, GEO, and the shift in how people find you  38:35 Why owned + earned + paid all work together  43:00 The whole team needs to be visible — not just the founder  49:05 AEO — the one thing every founder needs to understand right now  51:05 Rapid fire  57:10 What reputation means to Alex today — and why she's thinking about legacy   Subscribe to Return on Reputation on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, and Spotify.   Ready to close your Authority Gap? Visit OBEYCreative.com

    53 min
See All (62)

Ratings & Reviews

5
out of 5
2 Ratings

About

I'm Justin Obey, and this is Return on Reputation. Here's what I've learned building companies and helping founders scale: The game has changed. You don't need a bigger ad budget - you need a better media strategy. This show is about how founders are building authority and leverage in 2026: Podcasting that generates real clients, not just downloads AI tools that actually save you time instead of creating busy work Social media that builds relationships, not just follower counts Founder-led branding that positions you as the obvious choice I've built a 7-figure company, I run marketing for multiple 7 and 8-figure brands, and now I help B2B founders build the media engines that let them stop chasing and start attracting. If you're ready to play a different game, let's go.

Information

  • Creator
    Justin Obey
  • Years Active
    2023 - 2026
  • Episodes
    62
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © Copyright 2026 All rights reserved.
  • Show Website
    Return on Reputation